10 comments:

How will you ever top Althouse 2009? Thanks for the memories, and good morning to a great 2010. On the way home last night we listened to Capital Steps on NPR, and the funniest bit was Bob Dylan singing, in his voice, but without words you could understand. Why was that so funny? Thankfully we can always understand the Magic of Althouse's posting her unique points of view.

Fred: It is pricey, but it is also more elaborate and detailed that other sets I've seen. I'll bet the price will drop over time. I bought it at Legoland in Carlsbad CA. It's been worth it already because it piqued his interest in cool buildings. I grew upon along the Madison-Richland Center corridor and so had a natural interest in Wright. How many ways are there these days to get kids interested in architecture?

I recommend the #5 Tick Flicks as an exemplary Althouse post. The tick snuff itself was somewhat laborious, especially when viewed in contrast with the decisive fly snuff that was earlier demonstrated by President Obama. (Is it any wonder that this man is President?) However, the subsequent discussion of the tick snuff was truly illuminating. Chip Ahoy gave a scholarly account of the dung beetle and its place in history. He also produced an excellent animation that gave a sympathetic portrayal of the existential problems faced by dung beetles....Titus told of the problems being gay in Madison. I sometimes think that the sex life of gays is more inventive and varied than mine (not a high bar). I took a measure of comfort in knowing that, to date, I have never had to leave the bar with a fat drunk in a sequined tank top. Although I have never really experienced the highest highs of a first rate orgy on an expensive yacht, I have apparently missed the lowest lows....There were further, informative discussions of the proper way to remove a tic from under the skin....I skipped over this post the first time around. In my foolish pride, I thought that there were more important things to ponder than tic deaths, but even the death of a tic inspires ripples in the universe as the Althouse post demonstrates.

Also, I don't mean to nit pick, but there are many other creatures lower on the evolutionary scale than a tick. Not just mites but there's the whole bacteria and plant kingdom. There is no assurance that you and Meade sent that tick to a higher plane. (It saddens me to reflect that here on 1/1/10, I have made my best pun of the year, and here it will pass unnoticed like the mustard seed on a flat stone that may very well be the incarnation of a transgressive mite.